Education Project – Research Resources
Introduction
About 18 months or so ago, the Society decided to employ an assistant to research the history of the Fovant Badges over the last century. We appointed Mr Mike Nixon. Mike had just started his MA in History at Birkbeck College, London. He was so interested in the Fovant project objectives and some of the early material uncovered that he decided to make the badges his MA project.
Due to Mike’s work we know far more about the history of the badges and Fovant WW1 Camp. Mike would freely admit that he has relied heavily on the painstaking research carried out over many years by Mick and Liz Harden and Margaret McKenzie of the Fovant History Interest Group. We have managed to accumulate a fairly extensive collection of digitised images and accounts that are freely available for research. Whilst the collection is designed for 12-16 year olds the collection will appeal to anyone interested in the badges and their history. Mike has also catalogued the various minute books and other documents of the Fovant Home Guard Old Comrades Association, and its successor the Fovant Badges Society, and these are available for research on request to the Society.
Research Resources
As a result of all this hard work by many people over a number of years, the following resources are available on-line for research into the badges story:
- The Fovant Badges Society Archive Catalogue – WS 37 (The Fovant Badges Archive) – PDF file
- To access the sources designed for 12-16 year olds, although we hope everyone will find them interesting, just click on the buttons below:
Narratives
These have been written by Mike Nixon MA and provide an introduction to WW1, the camp and transcripts of the interviews carried out by the IWM of WW1 veterans that were stationed at Fovant.
Accounts
These are various accounts about the WW1 camp, the soldiers stationed there and the building of the badges. Some are contemporary and some were recorded some years after WW1.
Other Resources
This file has a few records that don’t seem to fit into any other category!
- A copy of Mike Nixon’s MA dissertation – should be available in Autumn 2015 after articles based on the dissertation have been published.
Request for information about the badges
We would add that the research resources are a work in progress and we would welcome any comments and suggestions for improvement. We are also, from time to time, handed newly discovered documents and images that further improves our knowledge of the badges and the soldiers that created these lasting memorials. Please contact us if you wish to share any relevant material with us, newspaper articles, photographs, letters etc, they will all help to improve our knowledge.
If you wish to contact us about the research resources or any other related matter please email us on: fovantbadges1@outlook.com or telephone 01722 714782
